Mesolithic fireplaces and the enculturation of early Holocene landscapes in Britain, with a case study from Western Scotland

In light of the enculturation of landscapes by ethnographically documented hunter-gatherers, we should expect Mesolithic hunter-gatherers to have endowed their early Holocene landscapes with meaning. Attempts to find evidence for this have focussed on the unusual and exotic – those aspects of the archaeological record that seem immediately unrelated to subsistence. In this contribution, I suggest that fireplaces, ubiquitous on Mesolithic sites and often swiftly passed over in site reports as evidence for cooking alone, had played a key role in the process of landscape enculturation. Although we cannot reconstruct the specific meanings once attached to early Holocene landscapes, by appreciating the social and cultural significance of fireplaces we gain a more holistic view of the Mesolithic than is currently the case, whether in those studies that focus on settlement and subsistence or those that cite examples of ritual. In the course of making this argument, I summarise the evidence for fireplaces from Mesolithic Britain, noting the need for more systematic reporting. Finally, I provide a case study from western Scotland that seeks to view a suite of fireplaces in the context of the landscape topography, early Holocene environments, subsistence economy, and by drawing on selected ethnographic analogies

The seal matrix of Sir John Campbell and the struggle for Dunyvaig Castle on the Isle of Islay

The great feud between the clans Campbell and MacDonald in the early seventeenth century AD was part of a power struggle for control of Islay, the seat of the Lord of the Isles, and encompassed wider political, economic and religious change in the region and beyond from the sixteenth century. The discovery of a seal matrix found during excavations at Dunyvaig Castle reveals the personal story of Sir John Campbell of Cawdor (1576–1642) in these broader political events

Becoming Neolithic in words, thoughts and deeds

How did people come to ‘think Neolithic’? While there has been considerable progress on reconstructing the environmental, economic, technological and social changes associated with the transition from mobile hunter-gathering to sedentary farming and herding communities, we remain limited in our understanding of how Neolithic culture in its most profound sense arose. I suggest that the formation of new words required for that new lifestyle was as much a driver as a consequence of the Neolithic transition, illustrating this with a sample of Neolithic innovations from the southern Levant that appear likely to have required new words. Such words, I argue, helped to establish new concepts in the mind, shaped thought, influenced perception and ultimately the human deeds in the world that left an archaeological trace

Shamanism at the transition from foraging to farming in Southwest Asia: sacra, ritual, and performance at Neolithic WF16 (southern Jordan)

Shamanism is a pervasive form of ritual practice documented within hunter-gathering and farming societies throughout the world, and continuing within some present-day urban communities. Despite exhibiting considerable variation, shamanism has several recurrent features, notably the role of the shaman as a mediator between the spirit and human worlds. Shamanism has been cited to explain aspects of the Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic archaeological records in Southwest Asia and Anatolia. Building on that work, this contribution explores whether shamanism might account for intriguing finds from the early Neolithic settlement of WF16 in southern Jordan, notably a large quantity of bird bones, zoomorphic artefacts and architectural features. A range of interpretations for the evidence are considered with shamanism emerging as the most compelling, suggesting that shamanic thought and practice pervaded daily life at WF16. The paper concludes by proposing that shamanism played a key role in the Early Holocene transition from hunting and gathering to farming in Southwest Asia, as it provided a means for coping with the uncertainty arising from climate and economic change

The end of the PPNA in southern Jordan: Insights from a preliminary analysis of chipped stone from WF16

Research on the PPNA of southern Jordan at WF16 suggests that a distinct Late PPNA phase develops at this site. It is visible in changes in lithic assemblages and architecture. Similar changes appear to occur at other sites in southern Jordan dated late in the PPNA. At WF16, the one site that appears to be occupied throughout the PPNA, the chipped stone assemblage appears to evolve during the later stages of the occupation, confirming that the process of transition is locally derived. The main features of the transition visible in the chipped stone at WF16 are a technological change, with an increasing focus on blade manufacture, and some evidence for the development of a bi-directional knapping strategy, and a change in typology. The earlier PPNA material contains both microliths and el-Khiam points. By the Late PPNA both artefact types have completely disappeared from the assemblage. While the difference between early and Late PPNA assemblages are clear, part of the evidence for a local transition is the presence of an assemblage that is intermediary in character, and always stratified between the early and late material. The chipped stone from WF16 has never supported the division of the southern Levantine PPNA into a short Khiamian followed by a long Sultanian phase that is associated with the development of sedentism. At WF16, the early phase appears to encompass the greater part of the PPNA, and to be associated with architecture from its outset, while the Late phase is a relatively short lived. The chipped stone from this Late PPNA phase is sufficiently similar to the preceding PPNA, and dissimilar to the EPPNB elsewhere to continue to describe it as form of PPN. Some of the distinctive traits of this phase, especially in blade production, parallel EPPNB developments elsewhere, and indicate that the southern Jordanian trajectory does not occur in isolation, but is informed by wider processes. We argue that this Late PPNA develops, with influences from elsewhere in the Levant, in particular the incorporation of Naviform technology, into the distinctive MPPNB of southern Jordan and that very early MPPNB dates from Beidha and Shkarat Msaiad support this local trajectory

A tanged point and two blade technologies from Rubha Port an t-Seilich, Isle of Islay, western Scotland

We describe a tanged point and a blade technology from Rubha Port an t-Seilich, Isle of Islay, Scotland that provides further support to a Late Pleistocene or Early Holocene presence in Scotland prior to the establishment of the narrow blade Mesolithic industry. The existing evidence for a Late Pleistocene or early Holocene presence comes from isolated finds of tanged points (Tiree, Shieldig, Brodgar), undated assemblages from disturbed contexts that are most likely Late Pleistocene in date (Howburn, Kilmefort Cave), and undated assemblages containing broad blade microliths (e.g., Glenbatrick, Morton). This article provides a summary of recent excavations and the stratigraphy at Rubha Port an t-Seilich, and a detailed analysis the lithic blade blank production at the site, which is, we believe, the first application of a chaîne opératoire based approach to a Scottish assemblage. The study includes comparisons with contemporary assemblages from north-western Europe. The significance of the Rubha Port an t-Seilich finds is threefold: (1) the relative large size of the assemblage that allows a technological analysis; (2) the finds partially derive from a stratified context below a narrow blade assemblage, associated with radiocarbon dates 9301-7750 cal. BP; and (3) further excavation can increase the sample size and potentially expose an in situ Late Pleistocene or early Holocene cultural horizon

The utilization of birds at neolithic WF16, southern Jordan: cut marks, body parts, and experimental skinning

WF16 is an early Neolithic settlement in southern Jordan with a large bird bone assemblage (Number of Identified Specimens [NISP] = 7808), representing 18 families. We explore how the birds were utilized by considering cut marks and body part representation for each of the families represented, also drawing on the experimental skinning of buzzards, the most common bird in the assemblage. We conclude that the bird bones accumulated from a mix of activities including the exploitation of a seasonally abundant supply of migratory birds for food; the acquisition of skins, feathers and talons for decorative, symbolic and practical purposes; and the trapping of wildfowl and gamebirds as a supplementary food source to large mammals

Birds as indicators of Early Holocene biodiversity and the seasonal nature of human activity at WF16, an early Neolithic site in Faynan, Southern Jordan

Birds are useful indicators of biodiversity. Their bones have been used for reconstructing the local environments and seasonality of human activity at Epipalaeolithic and early Neolithic sites in SW Asia. We consider the bird bones from WF16, an early Neolithic settlement in southern Jordan, currently located in an arid environment. The settlement has elaborate pisé-built architecture and material culture. The species represented within the WF16 avian assemblage suggest the environment was considerably wetter and more wooded than today, supporting the idea that Early Holocene communities targeted locations with abundant and diverse resources. However, while the range of species at WF16 is equivalent to that found at other Epipalaeolithic and early Neolithic sites in the region, the diversity of the assemblage is strikingly limited, with a heavy dominance of raptors, notably buzzards. We suggest an annual pattern of seasonally based activities, with a relatively small resident population drawing on supplies of water during winter months for constructing and maintaining site architecture and spring/autumn gatherings of people from across the region for hunting migratory raptors and undertaking performance and ceremony within settlement